Thande ka tadka?I think not!

Once upon a time, there was an ice-maiden, an ethereal beauty, who had already made a name for herself in the modeling world in India. She was one of the favourites for Miss India that year. She did win a title, and went on to become Miss World. After a shaky start in films, she established herself firmly in the Bollywood firmament. The ice-maiden melted and sizzled in the Kajrare number last year. She actually looked good with those few additional pounds. She was human after all!
As Miss India and Miss World, she supposedly had a lot of responsibility. To say the right things, to do the right things. By now it is a standing joke, that all the contestants mouth something about Mother Teresa, and something about kids, and they are on velvet. Does it stop there?
The latest Coke ad has an emaciated Ash sashaying past some “road Romeos”, one of whom whistles and likens her figure to a Coke bottle: “Umar hai solah, kamar Coca Cola”. At this, she turns around and mocks at the whistle, likening it to a cooker going phusss. And proceeds to demonstrate various types of whistles, guaranteed to produce a slap, or a sandal-imprint. Isn’t this kind of advertising nodding and winking at eve-teasing? Did not Ash see the script for the ad? Even if it begins with eve-teasing, the ad should bring across the message that such behaviour is not acceptable. Instead, the heroine is only prolonging the give and take thus becoming a party to it. What happens after she walks away? Won’t the guys follow her, trying out the “seetis” she suggested? I think, she is still suffering from the “Kajrare” hangover. But there is a small difference. That number was set in a bar. The basic flavor was a shayari type of ambience. In other films too, when there is a qawwali song, with a girls-against-boys setting, the “chhed-chhaad” is more of a matching of wits, even if the theme is boy-chases-girl-girl-rebuffs-boy. This should not be transposed on to a street scene. There, it transforms into an ugly sequence. Where is the woman of substance? The thinking woman? Tch tch.